I’m a big fan of Pam Carriker so am thrilled that
That’s Crafty! sells a selection of her stencils. I chose her Journal Prompt:
Face (a 4” x 4” stencil) as the framework for creating different faces. It’s
useful if, like me, you’re not too good at getting the placement of the
features in the right place when drawing faces (we have far more forehead than
we think!).

I used beer mats for my faces because that’s what I had to hand but you could
use anything that will take paint. I had already rubbed the Archival ink pads
over the surface because I was planning to try some chalkboard effects which
are so on trend right now but had never got round to it.

Boy

The
background is Cobalt Archival ink but you could use paint. I drew through the
stencil with a white watercolour pencil for placement and then used my finger to
smoosh the Picket Fence paint over the face and neck area, extending into spiky
hair. I patted the paint with paper towel and dabbed the excess around the face
area.

Once that was dry I went over the hair with Blood
Orange and replaced the stencil to redraw the features in black watercolour
pencil. I used green watercolour pencil to shade the face, colouring the lips
red and the eyes blue. I stamped the stars (without an acrylic block) in
Watering Can and rubbed some green oil pastel round the edges of the coaster.

Girl

This was my first face and, to be honest, it
didn’t turn out as I would like it – I rather messed up the features being
heavy-handed with the black water colour pencil. The base was actually inked
with Watering Can, although you wouldn’t know it once I’d gone over it with
paint and pastel.

Once I had drawn through the stencil in black
pencil and drawn in some hair, I coloured in the whole head with watered down
Picket Fence Distress Paint so that the features still showed through. I went
over the face with watered down Spun Sugar and various pencils and pastels.

The hair is an homage to Pam Carriker – she often
paints what might be an elaborate bun or plait - or maybe roses - on one side
of the face. I painted it with Irish Cream and when it was dry went over the
top with watercolour pencils in various shades of brown.

I added Blood Orange paint and a yellowy-brown pastel
to the background, then stamped the dots and flower heads (which are quite
faint) in Grape Jelly. I went over the dots and the whites of her eyes with a
Picket Fence Distress Marker.

Prince
Charming

Pam Carriker often draws clowns with big round
cheeks so I drew my prince in that style, using South Pacific paint through the
stencil and for the hair. As the base of the beer mat was inked in Red Geranium
I went over the face with the Picket Fence marker before colouring with oil
pastels.Deborah

Armed with various EcoGreen Crafts Acrylics and
stencil, apply the motifs to the panel. A stencil brush gives the best results.
Lightly sponge Distress Inks onto panel.

In
my stash I already had this panel of cotton fabric stained, you can stain with
Distress Re-inkers for similar results.Stamp boy from Artistic Outpost Bluebird with VersaFine.Adhere to cardstock for stability.

Re-ink
the decorative borderand this time
stamp onto found paper.Stamp the text
stamp onto another piece of found paper. Re-ink and this time, stamp onto paper
re-cycled from a cardboard box, stamping onto both sides.The reason I included this piece of paper, it
caught my eye, curled up on my working area and I knew I had to use it … an
insight into how I work!

Apply
various paints to corrugated cardboard. Adhere to canvas with burlap and scrap
of rusted fabric.Thread jute string
through button and adhere.Apply a
flurry of Cosmic Shimmer Mica Flakes.

Create
a collage with burlap, stamped elements, Prima bark butterfly with the addition
of jute string,scrap of painted
corrugated cardboard. Cut a leaf style
motif from vintage doily.Layer this to
the panel with the curl of stamped paper. Cut a leaf shape from scrap of prepared corrugated cardboard.Apply paint to leaf die-cut and adhere both
inside the curl.

Bunny Brooches

Supplies:

·Stamp the
bunnies with black ink on to a piece of Transfer Artist Paper. Colour with
Distress inks and ProMarkers. Roughly cut them out.

·Following the
instructions on the TAP packet; iron the bunnies on to some white felt. Cut out
the bunnies and back on to some coloured felt, then trim round the bunnies
leaving a border. Add a brooch pin on to the back.Paula

Friday, 27 September 2013

Hello there, for my project this week, I have a duo
of pretty tags which I made to add to my little heap of small gifts with
Christmas in mind, intending them for some book loving relatives and friends.
Just the thing to pop in a parcel with a book that you’ve bought as a present.

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

This project started out as a find from
a car boot sale. The surface of the canvas is protected so it's important that you do use a
good branded Gesso to give a good coverage over the canvas. When I say good, it's worth while in the
long term to pay that little more. I have bought a tub of white gesso from a
high street store that cost £5.00 - it was gesso but such a watered down liquid,
it could cover a white sheet of card never mind a canvas like this one. So it's best to buy a branded tub as it
will cover the surface a lot better and save you money and time long term.

I revisited an old faithful set of
stamps for this project. it just goes to show that these sets of stamps have a
long life and not just like some out there that are '1 trick ponies'. The
products used here are 99% available from That's Crafty (who have just had a up-grade on their web
site, so is now so much faster and easier to navigate!). Where I have used a product, I have
highlighted a product that will be a very good alternative. Over the years we
all collect different products so we all understand that we do have differing
products.

This project does rely upon items that
I have explored in different projects on my blog.

LETS MAKE A CANVAS FOR A WEDDING PRESENT
IDEA!

Now then we have been round several car
boot sales and found some canvases that were originally bought to hang on the
wall, with the intention of Home Design. I came across a set of 4 that were
bought for would you believe it 25 pence EACH! As they were massed produced,
they will have a easy clean surface on them.

A nice thick coat of black
Gesso is just what is needed.

Using drywall tape, place two strips
close by to each other. The silver tape is there just to hide the joins. As the
tape isn't equal in the gaps, there is no great need to be 100% accurate. Then
to help protect the tape, a layer of decoupage glue is used. This layer will
take a paint medium, so there isn't any issues for further layering. As an after
thought, I decided to protect the black gesso layer, so once again I used the
same medium to protect it.

While the canvas is drying we can get
started with the images. For the figures, I decided to use the stamp sets below in the photo on the left. The only bit of technical crafting is the hair for the bride!

Taking the stamp figure from the Pondering Petunia, I
inked the stamp up and made an impression on the stamp paper and then while it
still had some ink on, I re-stamped some scrap paper so I can make a mask for
later.

Using a piece of scrap paper, the next
step of the project is to make a hair cut out. Be as wild as you want or be as
neat as you want, it's your call now. Here I have gone for a kinda combed back
with a quiff look. Make sure that the base of the hair matches the line at the
top of the head.

The section was been cut out
using a crafting knife and cutting mat. You can use your scissors, however I
would strongly advise you to use a craft knife as the following steps will show
you. The middle is discarded but kept safe as it will be needed later, it's the
cut out area or mask that we are going to use.

Place the stamped out figure first onto
the stamped image on the white card, secure with a little dab of glue from a
glue stick. Then place the hair mask on top of this so you have a 2 part layer
stack.

1. The stamped image on the stamping
card.

2. The stamped image on photo copy
paper

3. The hair mask/template.

Then using the stamp you have selected
for the hair here its a stamp from Background Love. As its a
patterned one there wasn't a great deal of matching up to be done. Just be
careful when placing the stamp.

After the hair had been stamped and
while all the layers were still in place its a perfect opportunity for the next
stamped layer. Remove the hair template and place over the hair impression the
middle that was cut out.

Placing the figure from the Dependable
Dotty stamp set, ink up again with StazOn and make an impression so that it will
look as if the figure is standing behind the female image.

After all your hard work stamping,
masking and layering, it should look something similar to the photo on the right.

By using a black micron drawing pen.
you're able to join any lines that are not quite matching. Use a waterproof black
pen for this stage.

In the Bits of This stamp set
there are two flowers that can be used to make up the bouquet of flowers for
the bride. This time we are going to stamp onto silver metallic style card, so
the StazOn ink pad is used again. This is the best ink pad for stamping onto
non porous surfaces. One of the smaller houses in the Right Up Your Street stamp
set would make the perfect Church in the background.

I wanted to make this a black and white
project. As I used StazOn I'm able to use a water based material. So armed
with my Black Soot distress marker, a water brush and a white tile, I started to
lay down colour, just highlighting areas. Just relax experiment with some paper
that you used in the stamping. It's just like using your water based coloured
brushes. Only this time we will be using the one colour, by adding more water
to the mix you're able to give a lighter layer of colour.

When the stamped image was as I wanted
it to look, the next step was to cut it out. This was done using both a good
pair of sharp tipped scissors and a craft knife leaving a small gap surrounding
the image, don't worry this will not show up. Using the same black Gesso that
we used in the covering of the canvas ,this small extra from our stamped image
will be covered up using a fine tipped brush and the gesso.

Now then, it's time to get back to our
canvas. There is a wonderful collection of stamps from Prima called Stitches and they are sets of sewn image
stamps in Lines, Circles,Squares and Rectangles. They are
cling backed and to me, can become a very good investment for future projects. I opted to use one of the straight
lines. Again, StazOn was used as I was going to be stamping onto a non
porous surface.

The stamped layer. When dry, I once
again put a layer of Collage Glue over the image to protect it.

To give more interest and definition, I
opted to use a white paint. The top photo on theright shows what I did. I selecting certain
squares and I filled them in with the whitepaint. If you don't have white paint in
your crafting supply box, white Gesso
will work.

The background needed something as it
was just flat. Before I finished with the white, allthat was needed was somewhere to place the church building. By drawing
freehand with apencil, I started to draw 2 hills - this would also give depth to
the image. Just 2 simple lines can work miracles to your project. When I was
happy with the two lines, I took my Posca
white pen and drew over the pencil lines. You can use paint if you're steady with
your hands.

The background was still lacking something,
it was flat. So armed with embossing Ink and the background stamps of Alphabet
and Numeral Figures, I started to stamp freehand over the canvas. When I say
free hand, I mean I didn't use a stamping block. As quickly as I stamped, I put a
layer of embossing powder down. When I had finished, that's when I used my heat
gun to fix the embossing powder.You can make out some of the embossed
imagery in the photo on the right.

When it came time to secure the imagery
onto the canvas, I used a roll of dimensional tape. This was done in a double
layer to give height. Now then, looking back I have not mentioned how l did the
bouquet of flowers.

As the flowers were drawn, it was quite
easy with a steady hand to separate them, so I had in effect, 2 separate
flower heads and stems. By giving the stems a thicker base using a black pen,
the line was drawn. Then to make it look as if they were being held, I just cut
the flowers from the stems at a point where it would look okay to hold them.
Then with some Cosmic Shimmer Clear P.V.A glue, I secured them on top of the
hands and then the stems below the hand. Overlapping the flower heads, made it
look bigger and as if they were part of the image.

The Cosmic Shimmer Clear Varnish was
used in the glasses to make it look as if there was a layer of glass. It's all
about layering, even if they are small it's still part of a bigger picture.

The church was also secured to the
canvas using the Cosmic Shimmer Clear P.V.A glue.

I wanted to put text on the canvas so
that it looked as if it was a card or a hand crafted present as a keep sake. So
after looking through the text on one of my Cricut cartridges, I saw this
phrase. Also it came in handy as I did make an error while I was painting the
outline using the black Gesso. It was not quite dry and as I was handling it, I
smudged the male figure around the collar area. It did stand out, so I went into
panic mode! However while I was searching, I came across small flower shapes -
PERFECT I could give the male figure a flower pin and I could cut out small
flowers to put on top of the flowers I already secured into place.

After looking at the canvas the
following day, the text I had placed onto the canvas just didn't look right. A
panic haze descended upon me. After all that effort I had put in, it could be
ruined and I would have to start again. So the lesson here I have learnt is,
don't place the text down securely until the following day and I have looked at
it with fresh eyes. I grabbed the same card that I had used before and cut out
a rectangle, just big enough to cover the space where there was glued parts
from the other text but small enough to leave a border of the tape, as the last
thing I wanted was to cover it all up.

After it was cut out, I took a
distressing tool and worked on the edge. This was then inked using a Black Soot
Distress Ink Pad. Using a black marker, I drew a box a centimetre inside.

As I didn't have a stamp font I wanted
to use instead I decided to print the wording out. Then using scissors, I
cut them out and secured them onto the newly distressed holographic card.

I wanted to have that symbol that's in
a lot of wedding imagery and that's Doves. This is where How does Your Garden
Grow came in, I could use the birds as a symbolic image. They don't have to fly,
so by placing them on the ground without legs, it kind of gave that impression.
These again were coloured around the outside edges by using black Gesso.

The birds in place. You can also see
the flower heads and the flower on the collar, that i mentioned a little
earlier in the blog.

There you have it a different style of
wedding project it can be changed over with a little tweaking using the stamps
from this collection of stamps to fit almost any occasion.

Any questions please send me a message
and i will get back to you as soon as possible.